The OTP Collection (2016)
by Challenge Zone
Summary: [collab] Because there's a diversity we simply must explore...
1. SeraphimonOphanimonCherubimon

**Author** : ZeroSlashOne  
 **Pairing** : Ophanimon/Seraphimon/Cherubimon  
 **Word count** : 597 words

* * *

Knowing what the common mon thought about their love affair displeased Seraphimon greatly. He was frankly not certain how people had come to believe these things, nor how the rumors had coalesced into active hearsay.

Some believed that he and Ophanimon were the ones in love, so passionately in fact that they both defined and redefined the concept of a love story, and that Cherubimon was only romantically attached to them due to a sense of pity or because it did not feel right to exclude him, or some other reason that was not that they loved him.

He wanted to release a chuckle. They were far older than a dozen millennia, and had together lived through things even he could not believe now that they were over; surely it was not unthinkable that they were emotionally mature enough to manage their own love lives without them being so emotionally taxing?

Seraphimon didn't think so, but apparently the gossip-mongers did not regard the matter in the same manner. Seraphimon sighed.

If anything was closer to the truth, he reflected to himself, it was the reverse that was closer to the truth.

Ophanimon was dear to his heart, and he did not doubt that she cared just as much for him (at the thought, he felt a pang of amusement, certain that she would playfully chide him to specify which kind of love as she had a habit of). Yet, she and Cherubimon could spend the nights together as well as the days, a privilege his lack of a physical body didn't give him.

Moreover, he found that he could not remember her having ever looked at him the same way she had him. He liked to think he was fine with that. What he and she shared was different from what there existed between Ophanimon and Cherubimon.

Some believed that, after everything that had happened and everything he had done, they hated him and only tolerated his presence because such was the way of things.

Seraphimon could understand how people might arrive at this conclusion, but that did not make them right in it. What they had, was a love and a friendship and an understanding that had been built and fortified over thousands of years - longer than anyone else in the world had lived.

Thirty years or so of imprisonment, he could forgive. ... though, he wouldn't have blamed Ophanimon for being peeved about it...

Turning to his left, the archangel spotted them down in the courtyard. His stance relaxed as he leaned forward.

They noticed after a brief moment that he was looking their way. Ophanimon gave her armored friend and lover a bright wide grin, and raised a hand in informal greeting. Cherubimon simply shot Seraphimon a curious look.

Today, Seraphimon thought, was another beautiful day. He sank deeper into his own thoughts, leaning further forward and looking squarely at them, shifting his stance to rest his head on his arms.

Contrary to what a certain few thought, he realized full well how fortunate he was. Blessed, even. Ages ago, he had fallen in love with them both, and it was thanks to a miracle of compassion and understanding on their parts that he had not been forced to choose.

For all the inter-personal dissonances that they occasionally experienced, regardless of what troubles the wider world and the other ones brought them, even if one day they would cease to reciprocate his feelings towards them - _no matter what,_ there was no place he could think of that he would enjoy more than where they were.


	2. MetalSeadramonMachinedramon

**Author** : Dacciiuu  
 **Pairing** : MetalSeadramon/Machinedramon  
 **Word count** : 264 words

* * *

 **Shades of Dark**

"Nice work out there today," said MetalSeadramon, trying his hardest to keep his cool as he accompanied Machinedramon back to his cave. It had been a long and tough day of fighting for the newly formed Dark Masters...but that wasn't the reason why MetalSeadramon was feeling so flustered.

"Likewise," came his co-worker's laconic reply. Strike one.

"Umm...did you catch the battle going down between those kids and Myotismon in the human world? Pretty crazy, huh?"

"Yes, I did. Yes, it was."

Strike two. Apparently, small talk wasn't going to get MetalSeadramon anywhere. Time to be a bit more direct.

"Hey, I know this really awesome beach: it's peaceful, quiet... _private_. You wanna head over there?"

"Thank you, but I'm quite happy here at my cave."

Jeez, he knew Machinedramon was a robotic digimon...but did the guy have to be so damn literal all the time? MetalSeadramon found himself letting out a loud, frustrated sigh.

"You sound rather stressed," stated Machinedramon matter-of-factly.

"Ya think?" exclaimed the sea dragon, unable to hide his exasperation. "Sorry, sorry, it's just that...I'm trying to..."

MetalSeadramon paused and took a deep breath.

"Trying to ask you out on a date, and you're not giving me much to work with here..."

"Really? You know, I was hoping you would do just that."

"Wh-what?" stammered MetalSeadramon. "You were?"

"Indeed. I thought you were never going to ask."

"Are you kidding me? I've been dropping hints for ages now!"

"Really? You were?" asked Machinedramon, cocking his head pensively. "Perhaps you should've been a little more direct."


	3. TaikiKen

**Author:** Tomoe Mami

 **Pairing:** Taiki/Ken

 **Word Count:** 1554

* * *

 _ **Flowers and Rosepetals**_

Taiki had almost fully recovered from the violent attack from Quartzmon a week ago. He had been watching the soul mate counter go down by the minutes and his thoughts drifted to his friends. Ryouma had a hard time recovering from the Virus Digimon controlling him and attacking his idol. The other boy had been skittish, intent on staying away from him, but he offered to be there when the other boy was ready to talk to him.

He was out for an evening walk and looked around, grinning. The temperature was just right and he was looking at the birds flying above him as they sang. He wasn't looking where he was going and, glancing down, he saw the mark on his inner wrist go down. He frowned and then glanced up to blue eyes as they crashed into each other.

Falling on his butt before wincing as he got up, he offered his hand towards the other boy. He was about to apologize when it happened. The ping sound rang out softly, but rang in their ears like a gong. They both looked down and the number reached zero. The other boy let out a cry and he scrambled away from Taiki.

 _I won't turn my back on you_ , Taiki vowed as they stared at each other. The other boy was shaking slightly and Taiki was worried at the younger boy's response.

"Good evening. My name is Ichijouji Ken." He stammered and gulped nervously.

"Kudou Taiki." Taiki smiled and bowed slightly. "It's nice to meet you."

Taiki approached Ken slowly and helped the younger boy up. The younger boy seemed nervous and Taiki softly squashed his curiosity. Ken would tell him if he wanted.

Taiki gently rubbed Ken's back, reassuring him that everything would be alright. The younger boy found himself leaning into the gesture and hoped Taiki was alright with that. "Ah… thanks very much, Kudou-san."

"How can I help you, Ichijouji-san?" Taiki asked, not worried about the younger leaning into him. He only wanted to give him as much help as he could. Taiki looked down at Ken, noticing him withdraw into himself, as if he was reluctant to talk about what was bothering him.

"I won't turn my back on you, okay?" Taiki tried again and squeezed the other's shoulders to reassure him. Ken nodded and they went over to sit on a park bench.

For a moment, there was silence as Ken steeled himself to speak. "I've been afraid for so long, running for so long… Never wanting to see my counter reach zero, because then my life, my freedom would be over-"

Frustrated at whoever told Ken that once his counter reached zero his freedom would be over, Taiki bear-hugged the boy and turned Ken to face him. "That's not true! You still have your freedom after the counter reaches zero; it happened to a close friend of mine and he was still able to go out. Who told you that?"

"My father," Ken whispered, about to turn away from Taiki's frustration, when Taiki grabbed his shoulder. The brunette gogglehead had no qualms about hugging Ken again, as he knew there were absolutely no rules saying the soulmates had to get married once they found each other.

Taiki's hug was broken when they heard a disgruntled yell. Taiki pulled back, his eyes shining with mischief, before he glanced towards the person who had shouted.

And blanched. It was Ryouma.

Taiki's eyes widened with guilt as he remembered the silver-haired boy's adoration of him and how he respected the gogglehead so much. He was in trouble now, he was sure of it, but he wouldn't lose face either.

"Ryouma," Taiki greeted.

"How could you, Taiki-san?" The boy sounded crushed, as if Taiki meant everything to him. "I thought..."

"You know I'll never turn my back on you, Ryouma." Taiki hugged Ken close to him, keeping an arm open for Ryouma too.

But the Hunter wasn't having any of it. Backing away from Taiki and Ken, he ran off, tears streaming down his face.

Taiki blinked in surprise. "Ah..."

Still peering after the retreating boy, Ken looked at the elder boy and stepped back a pace. "Is he a friend of yours?"

Taiki nodded, realizing Ken had figured out Ryouma's connection with him. "He is, or... Well, he's a Hunter. Mogami Ryouma is his name." He held his ground.

"Nice enough name," Ken admitted, liking the sound of the other boy's name. He suspected there was something else Taiki wasn't telling him about Ryouma, but would wait until the brunette told him.

Taiki dipped his head, gently lifting Ken's chin. "Sorry you had to see that." His breath ghosted along Ken's neck, making the younger boy shiver with anticipation. He took Ken's hand, but Ken stood up and moved away. "Ichijouji-san?"

"I-I'm not ready for this stage yet..." The younger boy admitted. He felt as though he was letting the elder boy down, however. "Sorry, Kudou-san." Ken turned to look at Taiki. "Maybe later?"

Taiki smiled, nodding. "That's alright." He could definitely understand where Ken was coming from. The gogglehead was fine at taking their relationship at its own pace.

Ken opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but hesitated. Finally, he spoke. "Kudou-san, w-was Mogami-san important to you?" Ken felt like he should know the truth of Taiki's connection with the other boy, as if knowing the truth would break down a barrier between them.

Taiki got up and rubbed Ken's shoulder. "Ryouma had been controlled by an evil Digimon. The Digimon finally acted of its own will and attacked me a week ago. I'm almost fully recovered, though."

"But-" Ken started, but Taiki placed a finger over his lips.

"Ryouma is important to me, just as I was important to him." Taiki looked down briefly, some grief in his voice, before continuing. "He knew me from when he was eleven, when I defeated Tactimon and then Bagramon a year later. Ryouma respected and idolized me since that day… I guess when he saw me with you, after I'd left him an open offer of coming to have a talk whenever he wanted, his spirit broke."

Ken nodded after Taiki finished the explanation, taking in what he had learned. Now, he couldn't blame the silver-haired boy for reacting as he had. He would have done the same if it had been himself in Ryouma's situation.

Ken felt it was only right that they find Ryouma and have Taiki explain what had really happened, not that scenario Ryouma seemed to have in his head. Taiki agreed, still wanting to be Ryouma's friend and mentor.

"I'm sorry Mogami-san had to see that, Kudou-san," Ken whispered as the two sat back on the bench seat. "I didn't know he would find us like that."

"It's okay." Taiki squeezed Ken in another hug. "I didn't know he would look for me."

Flowers from the cherry blossom tree behind them started dropping, but it took them a few moments to realize this due to the awkward state Ryouma had left them in. When Ken saw the flowers at their feet, he blushed and wanted to move away from Taiki. Taiki had realized the significance of the flowers before Ken had and hugged Ken closer, before finally letting go.

He stood up and turned to the younger boy. "Do you want to go to the florist's? I'd like to buy a packet of their rose petals."

"Sure, I can come with you." Ken got to his feet and followed Taiki as they walked towards the nearby florist shop. "Are the rose petals for Ryouma?"

Looking back, Taiki nodded, smiling. "They are. I'm going to apologize to him." It was the only option he really had, if he still wanted Ryouma around for talks. He wasn't going to let the other boy fall back into his guilt-tripping.

The pair arrived at the florist's and Taiki studied the rose petal packets, before deciding on the packet he wanted the most. He brought it to the sales assistant, paid for it and they exited the shop. Taiki and Ken strolled back to where they had first met, hoping to find Ryouma somewhere along the way.

They found him sitting on the bench seat, head down and looking miserable. "Ah… Mogami-san?" Ken hesitantly asked, edging towards the other boy.

Sniffing back a tear, Ryouma looked up at them. Taiki was at his side in a flash, handing the rose petals to Ken. The gogglehead rubbed Ryouma's back to reassure him. "It's okay, Ryouma. It's not what you thought it was. I would never turn my back on you… or anyone else." Taiki glanced at Ken and winked.

Ken blushed, before realizing it was a clue. "Kudou-san's right, Mogami-san. I had my own problems and wasn't expecting to crash into Kudou-san. I'm sorry it looked that way to you, honestly."

Ryouma merely nodded. "I'm sorry I reacted like that. It's just..."

Ken handed the rose petals to Ryouma, who accepted them. "It's okay. You can come back with us..."

Taiki helped Ryouma up and pulled Ken in close. He leaned in and gave Ken a kiss on his forehead, causing both Ryouma and Ken to gasp. They then laughed after that and things started calming down.


	4. AmiYuugo

**Author:** Aiko Isari

 **Pairing:** Ami/Yuugo

 **Word Count:** 1659

 **Title:** Overload

 **Warnings:** PTSD, post-canon, Cyber Sleuth spoilers, hints of other pairings, sensory issues

* * *

He knows her colors by smell more than sight.

He always saw her pastel, always saw her bright primaries with his ears and nose. Eaters see colorblind, did you know? Probably not, no one remembers. No one remembers anything anymore. That's the worst part.

He sees her, a great golden light in monochrome apocalypse. He sees her by smell rather than sight. He sees her smile and wave, gloved hand rough against his smooth fingers. He smells pixels and ambrosia mixed with the rubber of a deflated basketball. She leads him, helps him walk. She laughs in his ear when she needs to make him feel better and it's never loud. Ami isn't loud. She's soft and firm in brain and body and it is beautiful and rich after the dead feeling of everything and nothing for so long.

She hardly talks, though she has always been that way. Neither does he. It worries everyone else. It worries the world.

They don't care. She prefers it this way. He wants it to change when he's ready. There's still too many thoughts and feelings, too much knowledge from the entire world. And the Eaters have ruined him for silence. They think in the same thought at the same time. He was a part of that. He was a part of something much bigger than himself.

He corrupted them. Yuugo knows it. It's all his fault. It's his own fault that he's like this.

Ami doesn't care. Ami never cares. She just smiles and singsongs her way into everyone's hearts, slipping in before anyone can drive her out.

He is too tired to feel emotion about this.

He sleeps in her lap and feels safe, despite knowing that she doesn't feel that way at all.

* * *

Ami's cheeks hurt. It's forgivable, this, because she knows it's from her smiling too much. She knows it's a bad habit. Her mother often scolds her for it, even when she can't see it. But it jad kept her friends going for so long. How can she stop now? She just needs to put herself back together and make it real.

Putting yourself back together is better in theory, she realizes early on.

Physically, there's a set of steps. She takes them one at a time. Yuugo is with her. He's not ahead. She's, physically, been comatose a much shorter time than he has.

(Him because of a terrorist attack, her because she's always been a bit brittle, and no, that's just not true at all, the Digimon, the Eaters-)

She heaves a sigh at her apartment. It's not clean enough for her mother, not clean enough to have the dream boy on her couch, but they're both here, sharing conversation over tea. She looks so happy, the happiest she's been since Ami's middle school graduation, since back when-

(Since the fire and the ruins of the factory and the funeral that she had missed because she was in another part of the country-)

Had her mother known? Had she remembered?

Well, thinking on it, she wouldn't remember now, would she?

That hurts even more. Now she can never ask.

Ami turns back to the touch of cool hands on her wrist. Yuugo, eyes as wide as they can be in their narrow sockets, like their mother, the mother who had died too (soap opera disease or childbirth or maybe a car accident, something tragic, something that builds the resentment in his heart even more because he's just not sure anymore), the siblings are not used to parents at all but they look just like them), regards her with old eyes.

"Thinking about food bills?" The joke is inside, inside the lungs and the stomach where laughter likes to be.

She laughs to prove it. "More like coffee beans."

He touches her cheek, and it's too much and perfect at the same time. "Yeah, those are terrifying, especially with bouillabaisse. "

"Apple vinegar then?"

He pokes her in the cheek. "Not to your mom."

Ami laughs louder this time and pushes the thoughts deep down to focus on the present.

Again.

* * *

The others are worried about them.

Goes without saying, of course, but Ami more because she tried to do too much too fast. School and cases and rehab and exhaustion. Yuugo tries to slow her whenever he can but no one can really. They are always flying after her trail and he has the weakest vocal chords and the weariest wings.

So when he catches up, it's when she's stopped for the day, long enough to make ramen. Not good enough in his opinion. He snatches the styrofoam and goes to her fridge.

(Her mother is already gone, of course. She's managed to rest for her birthday but little longer. The lack of a father means a lack of stability even in this day and age and Ami's never liked charity. Good deeds are different, she insists.)

"Do you eat?" he asks rhetorically.

She huffs. "of course I do. I'm just not Yuuko."

Yuugo smiles wearily. "She's always been that way." Eating like a bird and ending up like one too.

"I remember." The word 'remember' is full of so much fondness now, less neck biting and more easy nuzzling of a jaw. "Her sweet tooth is almost as disturbing as her stomach." Ami reached out and tousled his hair. "No fancy steaks anymore, you hear? Her wallet can handle it. Mine can't."

Yuugo laughed easily again, touching her arm with a stray reverie. He could touch people now, touch them and watch them not fade before his eyes, not watch fear go to stillness.

Yet his fingers still tremble.

The world rewound and wound again, spinning like strands of DNA. Everything is as it should be, with its happy ending and the worlds apart until they met again.

So why didn't it feel like it was over?

* * *

They're not happy, he realizes two months in, none of them, he and Ami least of all. So no wonder it's a mess.

They've spend too much time fighting, so much of it that when he takes her home and they kiss on the couch sometimes there's a little blood and some scratching and they don't know how to apologize.

The outside world thinks it's too fast but all of them know it's not. All of them know that if they have the chance, they'd do it twice over and with each other, but for now they simply cannot.

It's not over. Suedo had thought he had saved them but he had made it worse. He had made the feeling only grow because there was nowhere to put it. There had been no

The reset had not been their happy ending, no matter how many people had been saved from the eaters.

He spends his nights vibrating on his bed sometimes, until Yuuko crawls in like they're five years old and tells him stories of his very own Mugendramon. When he's at Ami's for the night, they sometimes wrestle and he screams into the pillow the words the Eaters had used with his mouth. He acts like he wasn't angry and scared back then but he had been. He had been so small and young like the rest of them.

But he had said to leave him behind and that had been _stupid,_ hadn't it?

He regrets it even more now, all of those lost years.

Ami hits him over the head for it, hits him a lot and kisses his face and cries into his shoulder, sometimes in the span of the same half an hour. He doesn't complain. He doesn't want her to bottle it up. But she does.

He will make her stop eventually.

* * *

Ami knows that she's not okay.

She knows it better than she lets on because it's very much there. The memories of falling apart are very real, much like his memories of being a thousand places at once and yet not there at all.

Ami tries to make Nokia dinner and laughs when there isn't enough. She watches Yuuko sip beer and then spit it out. It's probably the first time she's spat out anything edible in her life. They all laugh together because she doesn't deny it. Nor does she deny the comfort she's finding in Arata's stomach, with no Fei around to complain about it. Nokia pretends the girl's arm isn't wanted but it is. She needs to work on her tsundere.

Yuugo seems not to care either, which is the most important thing. He is resting in her lap and rubbing the feeling out of her fingers. She uses her glove to pull at stray knots and poke a button nose. He blushes. They laugh. The air is warm with their presence, with their love of each other. It's warm and quiet for the time they lack words.

In a few years they'll probably be all together still, the five of them. They don't want the boundaries anymore. They don't want the distance to exist in this place called reality. But for the moment, because they're minors, it will.

For now, they settle on being in the same room. The same just-right room, with the same just-right people. Everything has changed, but nothing has.

* * *

When they wake, it's no surprise that they're all over each other. None of them sleep peacefully. The tangle is no longer embarrassing. Instead people share unhurried embraces and throw breakfast menus at each other.

No one makes a fuss when Yuugo clings to Ami long enough to press a kiss to her temple. They _do_ fuss when the kiss turns into a snog fest against the counter. It's not because they're jealous! It's really not!

(Yuugo makes it up to them with French Toast and fruit. Ami doesn't make up for it at all.)

They're not okay, but they're together, and somehow, it makes everything seem possible.


	5. ToumaNanami

**Tutoring**

reminiscent-afterthought

Tohma/Nanami

739 words

.

.

Nanami was on the lookout for a new job. Preferably something that didn't involve signing her body over to science and other-worldy creatures this time round. It was fun, while it lasted, but it cut too deeply into her pride and morals she thought she'd already lost. And there wasn't anybody else like Kurata anyway.

There was also nobody else like Tohma. She'd thought there was. She'd thought she was. But she'd been wrong. There were more people like her than him. Kurata was like her - and while it hadn't bothered her before, the idea crawled under her skin and pushed up goosebumps now.

Even if she'd told Tohma she hadn't lost to him, but Daimon Masaru - but who cared? They were semantics and the only person that little comment would fool, if indeed it did, was Tohma himself. And did she really want to know? Not really. She was grateful. Maybe not so grateful to seek him out and say it too his face though, because even with the wound she was a prideful little sprite -

'Hallo.' She circled an add lazily. It was amusing. Very amusing.

She called the number that evening and applied for the job.

.

She wanted to bang her head on the table. Why had she thought tutoring Daimon Masaru would be a good idea? She wasn't dumb enough to think it his punishment for passing on such undesirable - or desirable, as it was now - traits on to Tohma.

She also wasn't dumb enough to think she didn't know why she had picked that job. It was a different sort of interesting. And challenging. Trying to teach someone many octaves below her level - it was like the two of them were talking different languages and could barely understand each other, at first.

She picked the job because it would challenge her like that: Masaru's spontaneous but not academically orientated brain against her far more clinical one. She'd picked it so she'd find the thing he'd passed on to Tohma, and maybe collect a little for herself as well. So she'd find the power that had defeated Yggdrasil, the power that had saved the world and done the impossible.

(And maybe she'd picked it so she could see Tohma when he came to visit his friend as well.)

.

Unfortunately, Masaru had a big mouth and Tohma had been warned well in advance. And he was suitably cool to her.

She was cool right back because she wasn't going to admit to his face that he'd won, or that he'd been right, or that she was trying to reach the pinnacle he sat upon, on a slightly different level than her own...

'Why tutor Masaru?' he asked.

'He did defeat me,' she pointed out, coyly, even though it wasn't strictly true. 'He's challenging.'

Tohma stared at her a moment longer, then shrugged. 'Don't I know it.'

It sounded like he'd already tried and failed - but she had a somewhat different motive, and need.

.

Tohma came around more often. Nanami didn't really care whether it was his suspicion or curiosity, though she was fairly sure it was a combination of the two. And if he'd been more like her, there'd be some jealousy as well. But Tohma would never be jealous of her. Jealous of Masaru, yes, but not her.

Jealous that she was finally making sense to Masaru while he still couldn't help him prepare for a simple math test? Maybe, but not very likely.

If that had been her aim, it was a victory. Except it wasn't.

.

'Hey, do you think I'm a good person?'

'You're the smart one.'

'And you're the miracle boy.'

'... You know, people usually call me the hero boy.'

'Hardly correct, considering the amount of help you got.'

'Geeze, you and Tohma always get stuck in semantics, don't you?'

Nanami shrugged. She felt like she'd done that at least three times in the conversation by that point. 'Would you just get back to the original question?'

He thought about it. Trying to remember the question, first, and then working out how to answer it. 'Depends on how you mean "good",' he replied, finally. 'You're helping me out - though my parents are paying you. But you're good for Tohma too and you're not getting paid for that.'

She squashed her smile at that answer. No need to give Masaru ideas to pass along - despite how dense he could be about certain things.


	6. KenDaisuke

**Author:** Higuchimon **  
Disclaimer** : I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom** : Digimon Adventure 02  
 **Title** : Will of the Master  
 **Pairing** : Ken x Daisuke  
 **Word Count** : 10,078 || **Status** : One-shot  
 **Genre** : Drama || **Rated** : PG-13  
 **Notes** : This has elements of sensory deprivation, mental manipulation, and mind control. Therefore, while nothing sexual happens, Daisuke does not actually consent to this relationship.  
 **Written** **For** : Diversity Writing Challenge, I4, a one-shot; Advent 2015, day #4, post a fic for a challenge; New Year's Mini-Advent, write about one of your favorite pairings; Valentine's 2016 Event: The OTP Collection; 10,000+ one-shot Challenge  
 **Summary** : Forcing Daisuke to choose which of his friends should die wasn't nearly satisfying enough for Kaiser. Daisuke did offer himself up in exchange for them, regardless of their state of reality, and Kaiser decides he should cash in on that.

* * *

 **Will of the Master**

It hadn't been enough. Seeing Daisuke down on his knees at his command, making him waver between which of his friends to choose, and even getting Daisuke to decide to give his own life for them – it hadn't been enough.

The Digimon Kaiser couldn't decide if there was anything that would ever be enough. But the initial satisfaction he'd had after the whole revelation of his true identity had ebbed away. He'd done his best to ignore it with creating the Evil Spirals and making MetalGreymon his slave for those glorious few days, but with all of that over and the Chosen now having Imore/I Digimentals to fight him with all the time, he knew it wasn't enough.

Conquering the world was easy. He could outlast the Chosen without much effort. He had all the time he wanted to take over and he could recapture any Digimon that he wanted, especially with the new Spirals. Creating his new Digimon wasn't that easy, but he needed something to do when he wasn't selecting parts and deciding what went where.

He needed a new toy, that was what he needed. Something that he could take his time playing with, that wouldn't fall to his whims with the simple snap of a Ring or Spiral.

Something human.

He'd never bothered to test if humans could be affected by his devices. Now that he thought about it, it wasn't an inherently bad idea in and of itself. But it wasn't what he really _wanted_.

He wanted to get a true and savage revenge on Motomiya Daisuke, to lash out at the boy who had pushed him to the point he'd decided to abandon Earth at least a month sooner than he'd originally planned, who had had the audacity to _injure him_ , and who'd even had the absolute _gall_ to shatter the first Evil Spiral.

 _I won't be satisfied until he regrets everything he's ever done, until he won't even **think** about standing up to me anymore._

The flick of a finger brought up the scene of Motomiya down on his knees. The Kaiser admired that for several long minutes, enjoying the view from every angle. Even if it didn't mean anything to Motomiya Daisuke, even if he clearly didn't care about bowing down to his enemy, it meant something to the Kaiser, and he considered that far more important.

He would need Motomiya in his fortress, where he could work on him for days at a time. Weeks, if need be. None of this quick in and out where his friends could save him and pat him back on the back and tell him how wonderful he was and that they would surely defeat the Kaiser one day soon.

Motomiya needed to know his place and no matter how long it took, the Kaiser decided that he would go to the effort of teaching it to him.

He had to have everything set up before he brought Motomiya here. That would be easy. He'd be able to capture the idiot with little more than a flick of his fingers. His real problem with that was just trying to decide which way would be the most personally satisfying.

But before that, he needed to settle precisely what he wanted to do to Motomiya. His end goals he knew without a doubt. But the method to get there required a little consideration.

 _He hates everything to do with me,_ the Kaiser mused, and the thought led naturally to another: _So I will make him **love** everything to do with me._

Yes. That would be it. Nothing as ridiculous as a _love potion_ if that were even possible, even in the Digital World. There would likely be a counter-agent to it even if he wanted to try that. But there were other methods he could use now that the idea nestled within him.

He had access to a great many forms of literature and research materials from his fortress here. He hadn't paid much attention to them, except to work out the easiest way to conquer a world and rule it with force, but now he turned toward it, tracing down ideas and working out what would have the most effect for what he wanted.

Sorting out all of the details took some time, but he finally finished his plan. _This will be perfect._ Now he just needed one final piece: Motomiya Daisuke himself.

* * *

"I think the only way this could be more of a trap would be if the Kaiser wrote 'This is a trap' on it," Hikari said, staring at the map.

Daisuke shrugged casually. "So what? We've beaten him every time. Why would this be any different?"

"We need to know why he's setting a trap," Takeru pointed out. "Remember what happened the last time?"

Daisuke twitched a fraction but shrugged it off easily. As if he'd ever forget what happened. Still, everything had come out all right then, and whatever the Kaiser was doing now, he had faith that it would come out all right this time. "Well, we're not going to find out what he's planning sitting around here, are we?"

"He's right," Koushirou said, his fingers dancing over the keyboard as he spoke. "He may have some new powerful Digimon enslaved. I've checked all the Perfect forms that I know of, and I've been keeping an eye on Elecmon and the Village of Beginnings as well, but so far everything looks fine with all of them. But that doesn't mean he hasn't found someone new."

Daisuke tossed his head back and crossed his arms over his chest. "So the faster we get there, the faster we find out what he's doing and put a stop to it."

Given the limited time they had to complete their daily visits to the Digital World, there wasn't much arguing they could manage. Whatever the Kaiser had in mind, they had to put a stop to it as fast as they could.

Soon enough they stood on the other side of the gate, partners back to Child size with them, and all five of them looking in every direction they could for any sign of what their enemy had in mind.

"You know, this really is _too_ weird," Daisuke said. There weren't a lot of things that he didn't like, but this strange silence came in high on the list.

Miyako gestured upward. "There's a Spire right over there. Let's go take it out and see if he turns up."

For lack of any better plans, the group headed that way. The Spire wasn't all that far away and soon enough various attacks slammed into the dark structure, sending it crashing to the ground.

"Still no sign of him?" Daisuke liked this less and less with each moment. Everything reeked of trap but there wasn't a trap and he wanted to get this over with.

Iori looked down at his D-3, then back up quickly to everyone else. "Look!"

The map of this area of the Digital World appeared before them, showing more of the Spires: five more of them, in fact.

"He's trying to separate us," Takeru said, clenching his fists. "Probably he thinks if we're not together, his troops can beat us."

Daisuke rolled his eyes. "Like that'll ever happen."

"He is right on one thing, though," Hikari mused. "We can't just leave all of them like that. But it would take too long if we took them all one at a time."

"So we are going to have to split up."

Daisuke didn't like agreeing with Takeru, but when the blond was right, he was right. Splitting up was the only way they could get everything done in time.

"All right, we'll get it done as fast as he can. Keep in touch with the D-Terminals." Daisuke surveyed all of the towers and pointed to the closest one. "I'll take that one."

He waited just long enough for everyone else to pick a tower, then he and Lighdramon bounded along to 'his' target. He didn't doubt for a moment that they would wreck it with time to spare. He wondered if he should ask Hikari if she wanted to come over for dinner. His mom made some amazing ramen and that was what was on the menu for tonight.

"Let's go!" Daisuke shouted as soon as they were in range of the tower. Lighdramon Lightning Bladed it, following the strike up with a pounce and an Electric Bite, bouncing back off to send a blaze of Blue Thunder.

Slowly the structure shuddered, broke along the base, then crashed over into a useless mound of shards.

"They just don't make Evil Towers like they used to," Daisuke mused, snickering.

"Perhaps you could give me a little advice then," a far too familiar voice spoke up from far too near. Daisuke whirled to see the Kaiser standing on a small outcropping of boulders, his whip curled in one hand, a small menacing smile on his lips.

"My advice is for you to stop doing this!" Daisuke shouted, fingers clutching tight on Lighdramon's armor. "We're going to beat you anyway so just throw it in!"

The Kaiser chuckled at that. "I'm afraid that's not going to happen. Now, I have plans for you. Come along like a good little boy and I might not hurt you too much."

Daisuke snarled, fury surging all through him. "Yeah, that's not going to happen." He didn't care what the Kaiser 'had in mind', but he wasn't going to let it happen.

The smile the Kaiser smiled sent chills through Daisuke. "You really should know by now. I wasn't _asking_ you."

Huge footsteps echoed around and a half dozen Dark Tyrannomon, each one neatly fitted with their own Evil Ring, circled the area far too quickly for Daisuke to get out of there. Whatever the Kaiser wanted, he clearly wasn't going to let Daisuke escape it easily.

That was fine with Daisuke. It didn't mean he wouldn't escape at all. He'd just have to do some fighting. He was good at that.

"Take him," Kaiser ordered, flicking the tip of his whip toward Daisuke. "And remember not to cause too much damage." A savage twist of his lips that couldn't have been mistaken as a smile no matter how much one tried. "That's my job."

"Hold on, Daisuke!" Lighdramon shouted as he leaped forward toward the nearest Dark Tyrannomon. "And see if you can call for some help!"

"How am I supposed to do that and hold on at the same time?" Daisuke grumbled, wrapping one arm around the nearest protruding piece of Lighdramon's armor while he fumbled for his D-Terminal with the other. If they were just traveling, maybe, but in battle? That was more than a little difficult.

Kaiser wasn't going to make it any easier, either. His whip lashed through the air, cracking next to Daisuke's ear, and he jerked to the side automatically. That threw Lighdramon off just enough so that Dark Tyrannomon he'd been attacking managed to get in a good hit, sending him spiraling back to the ground.

Daisuke rubbed his head and scrambled for his D-Terminal again. "Don't do that!"

"You're no one to give me orders," Kaiser snapped. "If anyone tells someone what to do around here, then I tell _you_."

"What makes you think I'd listen to you?"

Daisuke wasn't expecting the Kaiser to laugh, much less the response. "Because before much longer, you're going to want to do _anything_ that I tell you to do."

Daisuke couldn't help but shoot a very nervous glance toward the Kaiser. He didn't see anything like a Ring or a Spiral, and no one knew if one of those would work on a human anyway.

In that moment, Kaiser threw something down at Daisuke's feet. He didn't have a chance to ask what it was, since as soon as it struck the ground, a thick cloud of dark blue smoke swirled up, wrapping around Daisuke. His first breath of it sent him coughing, and he stumbled, his legs weak and his head spinning.

"W-what..." He couldn't think. He couldn't stand. He didn't even know anymore if he were on Lightdramon or not. He could hear voices but they didn't make any sense, and when he blinked, trying to clear his head, all that he managed was to realize that he was on the ground.

"You don't have to worry about a thing, Daisuke," the Kaiser said, his words coming through loud and clear. "I'll be taking care of you from now on."

Despite all of the disorientation, Daisuke knew absolute terror at those words, which were the last he heard before the darkness enfolded him and he knew nothing else.

* * *

Daisuke floated in a sea of shadows, warmth lapping at him, but nothing solid touching him. He didn't know if he was awake or not. He tried to say something and he didn't hear a single sound. IHad/I he said something? His mouth had moved… hadn't it?

Whether it had or not, he didn't know. He just knew the floating and the silence and the fact nothing at all touched him.

He tried to put what he remembered together. A small knot of tension eased when he realized that he Idid/I remember things. He wouldn't have put it past the Kaiser to try to rewrite his memories or something. No matter what the Kaiser did, it would be horrible and Daisuke wanted nothing to do with it.

A small shock ran through him and he jerked, trying to figure out where it came from. Still nothing touched him, but the shock happened anyway.

He'd been captured by the Kaiser. And unlike the first time, he wasn't anywhere the others could find easily. He could tell that much, mostly because it didn't look as if he were anywhere at all.

"Kaiser!" he yelled, or thought he did. Nothing happened. He couldn't even hear himself. But he kept on, determined to have his say. "Let me go or you're going to regret it!"

Another shock came, a bit more intense this time, and he shuddered. He didn't stop, though.

"You don't think you're going to get away with this, do you?" He had to be saying something, he realized, and someone somewhere knew he was, because the shocks only came when he thought he said something! A third one frizzled through him, about the same as the second one.

He breathed in and out. Gathered his thoughts, the best that he could, threw his head back – or thought he did. "V-mon! V-mon, where are you?" Had the Kaiser taken him too? Was he wearing a Ring or a Spiral, or being kept somewhere locked up? A thousand possibilities rang through Daisuke's mind and he didn't like any of them.

He liked even less the fourth shock, harder than the others, that thundered into him. He panted and shuddered. He'd never been fond of pain; he didn't know anyone who was. He'd endured it before, and he'd seen V-mon endure a massive amount on his behalf. For his friends, for his partner, to resist whatever the Kaiser was trying to do with his, he would do the same now.

"Kaiser, what is it you're trying to do?" He asked, tense for another shock. He was a little surprised when one didn't come. Neither did an answer, which didn't surprise him at all. "Are you going to answer me?" He grumbled at yet another shock. "Jerk." Another one.

But the pain gave him an answer, in a sense, if not to his questions. He got shocked whenever he said something nasty to or about the Kaiser or if he mentioned V-mon. He wondered if it would be the same for the others.

"Takeru! Hikari-chan! Miyako! Iori!" He got his answer. After every name a shock sizzled through him. The only difference between them was when he called Hikari's name: that one was a little harder than the others.

Daisuke drew in shuddering breaths and closed his eyes. It didn't make a difference in what he saw, but he did it anyway. Part of him remained tensed to see if this was somehow going to spark a shock, but it didn't.

 _All right,_ he mused, trying to put it all together. _Talking about anyone who isn't him gets a shock. Being rude to him gets a shock._

Yeah. He wasn't surprised by either of those facts. Daisuke couldn't guess at what the ultimate goal was, but the Kaiser didn't want him to think about the others.

Daisuke didn't like being told what he could or couldn't do. He squared up his shoulders the best that he could and opened his eyes to glare into the shadows.

"I don't care what you're trying, but I'm not going to forget about my friends! Not now, not ever, no matter what you do to me! So you can just shock me all you want, but it's not going to work! Give it up and let me go!"

The last word erupted from his lips far more as a scream of agony than anything else. The level of pain from this shock dwarfed all of those that came before it and Daisuke forgot how long it lasted. He hung where he was afterward, trembling in pain, sweat trickling down the side of his face.

 _I think I made a mistake there._ The words stumbled through his mind, but he found he smiled anyway. It was worth it. _Completely_ worth it.

* * *

Daisuke kept on talking, at least as long as he had the strength to do so. He asked for V-mon again. That got him shocked. He demanded to know where he was. More shocks. He insisted on having something to eat, because he didn't want to miss his mom's ramen but if Kaiser couldn't be bothered to let him go, he could at least give him dinner.

Oddly enough, that _didn't_ get him shocked. And that worried Daisuke far more than anything else had so far.

What worried him even more than that was when the darkness rolled away and he found himself strapped to a table in an empty room. He remained there, the restraints not easing at all, staring at the ceiling. He ached all over and he found himself yawning, weary to the bone.

There was a hissing sound, and while he couldn't see where they came from, he heard footsteps, measured and slow, and wheels rolling along with the footsteps.

The Kaiser loomed over him after several steps, that smile on his lips that never boded well for anyone, least of all Daisuke.

"Good afternoon, Motomiya. I trust you've been enjoying my hospitality so far."

"Not a bit," Daisuke replied right away. He tensed, expecting some kind of shock. Instead, the Kaiser's smile thinned for a moment.

"I'm certain you have more questions to ask, but this is the only answer you're getting: obedience brings pleasure and disobedience brings pain. You can learn all the rest for yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Daisuke sort of understood the pain part. He'd figure it out for himself, after all. But pleasure? From the Kaiser? _Obeying_ the Kaiser? Yeah, that one had him stumped.

His enemy only smiled that smile of his, then gestured behind him. Daisuke had to strain to see, but there came Wormmon, pulling a wheeled tray, which had several covered dishes on it. Kaiser cleared his throat, pulling Daisuke's attention back to him.

"This is the only time I'm going to tell you this. You should learn fast." Apparently Kaiser wasn't in the mood to repeat himself. "Ask for what you need and ask _properly_. If you ask properly and in a way I approve of, you may get it. If you don't, then you won't."

And he stood there, apparently ready to do so until the end of the world if Daisuke didn't co operate. Daisuke gave him one of his most annoyed looks ever.

 _What does he expect me to do?_ The answer came as quickly as the question had and Daisuke flinched at the thought. From the way Kaiser's mouth quirked up, he knew what Daisuke was thinking of as well. He still said nothing.

Daisuke swallowed. Daisuke stared at the plate of food. He could smell it from where he lay and while it wasn't ramen, it did smell very good, and his stomach rumbled. He needed something to eat.

"You want me to ask you if I can eat?" Daisuke offered, hoping that somehow this would get what he wanted.

Kaiser's smile widened a fraction, but he said nothing at all.

 _That's not the right answer_. Daisuke hated having to play Ken's games, but what choice did he have right now? It was either figure out what the Kaiser wanted him to do or say and eat or go hungry, and with the way his stomach yowled at him and the way his throat burned for something to drink, that was just not an option.

"May I please eat?" he tried, and while the Kaiser's eyebrow crawled up a tiny bit, he said nothing and still didn't move. Daisuke drooped; still that wasn't it.

He had to guess this and fast. What would the Kaiser want him to do?

Again the answer came nearly as soon as he thought the question. It wasn't that surprising. This guy was a maniac who had a passion for making slaves and for hurting people who fought against him. Daisuke let out a sigh. Yeah. He knew what he wanted now.

The words tasted like poison and fire on his tongue, but he said them anyway. "Would you feed me...master?"

Now the Kaiser spoke. "One more word and you'll have it all." He didn't make any moves that Daisuke could tell, but a sudden rush of _good feeling_ , as if he'd petted an especially fluffy cat or had a really awesome soccer game, rushed through him. Daisuke caught his breath, his heart racing, attention focused now on that smile, which actually seemed a little more… pleased? Real? Something…

One more word. Daisuke wanted to tell him just to give it up and let him go and hand over the food. He started to say just that, when the Kaiser's smile morphed effortlessly into a disapproving frown. Just that and no more, but Daisuke remembered all the pain that he'd already had to deal with. The Kaiser would show absolutely no pity in making it happen again.

Even worse, he might take the food away.

One more word. Oh. Of course. Daisuke let out a long, deep sigh. Well, more fire and poison, and better to get it over with than drag it out.

"Would you feed me, master?" It tasted just as bad the first time and adding the last word didn't make it any better. "Please?"

Kaiser reached out and ran his hand through Daisuke's hair. At his touch, that same delightful feeling rushed all through Daisuke and he bit back a slight groan from how good it felt. He wasn't supposed to like anything the Kaiser did, let alone touching him, but it felt good and after the last few shocks, Daisuke wasn't ashamed to admit that he _wanted_ something to feel good.

Kaiser settled down into a chair next to Daisuke and began to feed him small bits of food, sliced beef in an elegant sauce, pieces of vegetables, chased down by hot tea.

"You're coming along much faster than I thought you would," the Kaiser praised him, with another jolt of pleasure going through Daisuke at the words. "But don't fool yourself into thinking I'll release you any sooner because you're being a good boy right now."

Daisuke bit his lip as hard as he could to stop himself from saying what he really wanted to. If it hadn't been for the shocks, for the pain, he knew that he _would_ have said it and a lot more beside.

 _I'm not being good, you're just torturing me into doing what you want!_

 _You shouldn't be holding people prisoner anyway! Especially not me!_

 _Where is V-mon? Where are my friends? How long have I been here? When **are** you letting me go?_

All of that remained sealed behind his lips. For now, at least. He swore to himself he'd ask them all later. He'd scream them all in Kaiser's face if he had to. But he would ask them and he would get his answers. No matter what came from them.

He didn't think Kaiser could read his mind, but that smile of his made Daisuke wonder if he could somehow guess what he was thinking anyway. Maybe he could at least ask something and get an answer. Or ask something and not get shocked for it.

"Why are you doing this to me?" His voice shook with suppressed rage and anticipation of pain to come, which did not come. Apparently this kind of question was allowed.

"I told you I wasn't going to answer questions." Kaiser said, giving Daisuke a cautioning look. "I'll spare you punishment this once."

Daisuke leaned his head back against the table and kept himself just to eating for the rest of the meal. Shouting and yelling wasn't going to make any difference, he knew. Even as hungry as he'd been when this got started, he didn't quite want any more food. At least not from the Kaiser's hands. That was insulting enough all on its own.

Kaiser brushed his fingers across Daisuke's cheeks and smiled down at him. It was clear he was trying to look gentle, but he wasn't good at it at all. He looked more like he was going to savage Daisuke's throat, only without showing any teeth.

"I think it's time you rested."

Daisuke opened his mouth with the intent of saying he wasn't tired. He never had the chance. Once again, the shadows took him into themselves and there was nothing but himself there.

Himself, his voice that he couldn't hear, and the pain he already grew to fear.

* * *

Kaiser leaned back as once again the machine activated and Daisuke fell into deep sensory deprivation. He wasn't truly certain if that was the right thing to call it, but Daisuke would feel no input from his senses except what Kaiser decided he would. He'd programmed the machine to read Daisuke's brainwaves and throat and lip movements, as well as emotional state. When Daisuke indicated thoughts or words that Kaiser disapproved of, it dealt out pain. When he indicated something Kaiser did approve of, pleasure was delivered.

Keeping Daisuke like this would make the training time much shorter than if he'd tried to do it any other way. Already he'd seen a state of improvement. It wasn't perfect, not yet, but Daisuke had figured out what he needed to do in order to be fed, which was much more than Kaiser had expected.

Would he realize that he would have to do that _every time_ , until Kaiser was convinced that he knew his place in the world? That was just the bare beginnings of what Kaiser had in mind as well.

He traced one finger down the side of Daisuke's face, quite pleased with everything so far. There was something so endearing about all of this fire being tamed properly, transforming from a raging wildfire to a comfortable torch.

 _You'll be mine forever, Motomiya Daisuke. Nothing anyone can do will ever bend you away from what I will make you into. You will be more loyal to me than anyone in the world. Your heart will be mine and none other's._

Kaiser had never given thought to having another person in any fashion, until he heard Daisuke's voice calling him 'master'. Now the thought took deep root, and he would not change it for the world.

But as much as he wished, he couldn't stay here with his pretty new toy forever. The Digital World wasn't going to conquer itself, as convenient as that would be for him. Not to mention that the Chosen had been searching for Daisuke ever since they became aware of his capture in the first place.

 _They'll never take him back. Even if they find us, by the time they do, he won't want to go back. He belongs to me now._ All that remained was training Daisuke to be aware of that, and then to make the Chosen aware of it.

* * *

All shadows, almost all the time. Daisuke floated in between them, knowing now that he was somewhere in the Kaiser's fortress, and that the pain he suffered was because of the Kaiser. That was about all that he knew that he hadn't before. Any questions still got him shocked, until he just stopped asking them. It wasn't worth the pain, since each shock got a little more intense than the one before it.

Daisuke didn't know how much time passed. On the infrequent occasions when the Kaiser brought him out of the shadows to eat, there wasn't any way to tell the time, and of course, Kaiser never answered questions.

Had it been days? Weeks? Sooner or later, not only did he stop asking, but he kind of stopped caring. What did it matter? Time didn't hold any more meaning for him. He ate whenever Kaiser wanted him to, and the meals never had any given stamp to them so he could tell if it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Begging every time for his meal stopped tasting like poison and fire on his tongue as well. It wasn't something he liked, no matter how much a swath of pleasure cut through him whenever he did it. He liked the reward of the pleasure and he liked the food, but he didn't like what he had to do in order to achieve them.

But just when he could beg without wanting to hate himself for it, just when he thought that was all the Kaiser wanted, things began to change.

* * *

The Kaiser unlocked the restraints keeping Daisuke on the table, then tilted it so that Daisuke's feet slipped closer to the floor. Daisuke shuddered, flexing his fingers, not used to moving a lot now. He could feel the floor under his feet now, a soft hum going through it, but nothing that would help or hinder him.

Kaiser reached up and wrapped one arm around Daisuke. A shudder shook Daisuke from the touch. He wasn't used to anything like that at all, not anymore. Only Kaiser touched him these days. Only Kaiser _could_ touch him. There wasn't anyone else around who would.

Daisuke's breath stuttered in his lungs as Kaiser supported him, the tips of his fingers brushing against the side of Daisuke's face. He didn't need whatever it was that brought pleasure to him to enjoy the touch.

"Master," he murmured. The title came so easily to his lips. He knew that he'd hated it. A part of him still did. He couldn't be changed that much. But calling Kaiser anything other than that resulted in punishment, and Daisuke knew he didn't want to be punished.

Again Kaiser brushed his face. "Shh. Enough."

Daisuke at once closed his mouth. Kaiser's will ruled, whether he liked it or not. And he just did Inot/I. But it wasn't his decision anymore. He couldn't really decide anything. What happened happened because Kaiser wanted it to, not because Daisuke had a say in things.

Carefully the Kaiser guided him through the corridors – which left little impact on his mind – until they came to a place with a large chair and several screens set where whoever sat in the chair could see what was displayed on them. By the time they got there, Daisuke's steps were firmer and he didn't quite _need_ the Kaiser's support.

He didn't move away from him, though. That warmth, that solid weight of existence next to him, that awareness that there was someone else in the world and he wasn't alone… he wasn't going to give that up at all.

He knew there were other people besides Kaiser and himself. He vaguely recalled their existence. But thinking about them Ihurt/I and Daisuke did not want to hurt. He wanted to enjoy himself in every way that he could, and the only actions or thoughts that made him feel good were those involving the Kaiser.

So that was who he thought about.

Kaiser settled into the chair, and indicated for Daisuke to make himself comfortable by his feet. Daisuke did so right away, curling up so close to the Kaiser he could feel that body warmth.

He asked nothing. If Kaiser wanted to tell him something, then he would. Asking questions wasn't a part of Daisuke's life anymore.

Images flickered through the screens, settling at last on an arena with many Digimon in it. All of them had Rings or Spirals on and they clawed and blasted at each other without mercy. They never did enough damage to kill each other, but as soon as they couldn't go on, other Digimon dragged them out of sight, and new ones took their place.

"Isn't that glorious, Daisuke?" Kaiser murmured, resting his head on the back of Daisuke's neck. Daisuke leaned his head back to feel more of that touch.

"Yes, master." He didn't really find that much interesting about the combat, but if his master said it was, then it was. Memories of endless hours floating without anything but his own thoughts and flashes of pain or pleasure to indicate rejection or approval whipped through his mind. Always, always agree with his master.

Kaiser chuckled at that, then fell silent, watching the fighting. Daisuke did so as well, though his attention remained just a little more on the feeling of the Kaiser's hands on him. After so long without the touch of anyone else, those hands felt far better than they had any right to.

Then a new face entered the arena and Daisuke almost stopped breathing.

It had been ages since he'd seen V-mon. And V-mon was the only one in there who wasn't wearing a Ring or Spiral. Even so, he held his paws up in fists and struck as hard as he could when one of the others moved for him.

Daisuke's lips moved without asking instructions from his mind. "V-mon?"

Kaiser's hand rested firm on Daisuke's neck, not punishing, but just a hint of warning. "He fights often in my arena. He's very good at it, too. He hasn't evolved yet, though." Daisuke didn't look at him, but he could feel a faint hint of annoyance in the words. "But he still wins more than he loses. Perhaps he'll get to it eventually."

V-mon, fighting in an arena. Daisuke could not stop his shudder as he dropped his eyes. One thought resonated in his mind.

 _Why wasn't he here? Why wasn't he trying to find me?_ He had to admit to himself that most likely the Kaiser was involved with that, just like he was involved with the others not having turned up to find him. If they hadn't been able to locate the fortress _with_ Daisuke's help and presence, then there wasn't any reason they'd be able to find it _without_ him there.

Kaiser's hand stroked slowly through Daisuke's hair and neck and the side of his face.

"There's nothing you need to worry about. I wouldn't put a Ring or a Spiral on him. He's your partner, after all." Kaiser's touch soothed the sharp pains in Daisuke's heart. The words didn't make any sense so Daisuke didn't think about them. "I will do many things for you, and to you, Daisuke. But hurting your partner will not get me what I want from you. And those who serve me must earn their keep. So he fights to get stronger."

A low laugh echoed around the room, one that could only be from Kaiser himself. "I think he wants to get strong enough so he can attack me and take you back from me. But you wouldn't leave me, would you, Daisuke?" And again that touch, the one that felt far too good, coupled with another wave of pleasure that pulled a moan of delight from Daisuke's lips.

"No, master," Daisuke managed the words, somehow. "I won't leave you." Where would he go? Back to the Chosen? Why? They weren't going to touch him the way Kaiser did. They didn't Iwant/I him the way that the Kaiser did.

A soft breath of thought in the back of his mind wondered if he even wanted them to touch him like that. He didn't think he did. He swerved his thoughts away from them as quickly as he could. He remembered his lessons. He thought about the Kaiser. He did not think about them.

He didn't want to keep watching the battle, even with V-mon there. But he hadn't been given permission to look away, and so he didn't.

And so he could see it when an attack came from the outside of the arena, and he saw Pegasumon, Nefertimon, and Holsmon hovering there as the dust settled. Digmon burst forth from the ground underneath, drills at the ready.

Kaiser's slaves moved to attack. V-mon stopped fighting, a flash of burning hope in his eyes as his gaze flickered from one to the other of the new arrivals. Then that hope faded away and he slumped down, as if that hope alone had kept him on his feet.

"Are you going to fight them, master?" Daisuke found himself wondering. Then he flinched; it was a question and he knew better, but it had come anyway.

Kaiser's soothing touch told him he hadn't angered his master. "No. There's nothing there that I want to keep or can't take back if I want to." He shifted forward in his seat. "Everything that I want to keep is right here where I can always have it."

Daisuke found it difficult to breathe as Kaiser's cool violet eyes stared down at him. Over the length of time he'd spent in that lightless, soundless, empty place, one image recurred: that of the Kaiser. Paired with it had been more of those intense sensations of pleasure, to the point that it was almost the only time he felt genuinely _good_.

He leaned in as close as he could, ignoring the battle on screen. They could do what they wanted. It wasn't by his own choice, but he wasn't one of them anymore. He would've been if he could, but he couldn't, so he wasn't. He remained bound to the Kaiser.

* * *

Kaiser could not have been more pleased with this evidence of success. All of his research indicated that sensory deprivation and careful influencing of what sensory input that Daisuke had would produce the results that he wanted and so far he found it working. After weeks of punishment when he so much as thought or indicated an interest in anything that wasn't Kaiser and pleasure when the opposite occurred, Daisuke focused almost exclusively on Kaiser and what Kaiser allowed him.

 _I think I prefer this Motomiya Daisuke._ This one, who circled around him like a small satellite, who accepted his place in the world was at the Kaiser's feet, and that the rest of the world consisted only of the Kaiser.

In the deepest part of the Kaiser's own heart, stunted and dark as it was, he wondered if he'd done something wrong by twisting Daisuke like this.

He never wondered about it for long. That small part of him only twitched to life when he didn't focus on conquering the Digital World or, these days, conquering Daisuke. Since he'd almost completed that second, those thoughts didn't occur nearly as often. He didn't miss them.

Kaiser pulled Daisuke's head against his leg and ran his hand through Daisuke's hair and against his skin. He could feel the gentle warmth and thoroughly enjoyed it. Daisuke, he found, was a very comfortable leg-warmer.

He truly didn't care that the Chosen had finally rescued V-mon. He'd expected it much sooner than this. V-mon could tell them nothing. He hadn't seen Daisuke since the day of their capture, nearly three months earlier. Only Kaiser had, and Wormmon, and Kaiser made certain Wormmon didn't tell anyone else what he was doing.

 _They'll work harder to find him now, though._

Let them. Daisuke wanted nothing at all to do with them. His loyalty had almost been sealed permanently to his master. Just a little more and it would be irreversible.

* * *

Daisuke let himself drift throughout the rest of the day. He paid just enough attention to what was going on to know when a meal was brought, and he begged for his share of it without so much as needing a look from his master to start it. Kaiser praised him for his obedience and that made him even happier.

But as it grew later and Daisuke realized that soon Kaiser would have to go to bed, he wondered what would happen to him. He hadn't forgotten that drifting darkness and the thought of going back there sent chills all through him.

Then the Kaiser rose to his feet and Daisuke imitated him without hesitation. If he was _very_ good, if he pleased his master _very_ much, then perhaps he would be allowed to sleep somewhere else. He didn't care if it was in a bare cell or a closet or whatever, so long as it wasn't that endless shadow.

The closer they came to that room, the more Daisuke worried and fretted, his gaze going from Kaiser to the corridor ahead of them. Another question hovered on his lips and he kept it back only out of fear that asking it would end up with him being put back there after all.

Then they passed by the door and Kaiser didn't hesitate. Warm shivers of pleasure thrilled through Daisuke and he hurried to keep up, now wondering just where Kaiser intended him to sleep.

Not that far down the corridor there was another door and Kaiser swung in there.

"You need a bath," he said, gesturing ahead of them both and Daisuke looked over to see a spartan, nearly empty room that featured a king size bed covered in deep blue sheets. It was probably the most comfortable sleeping place Daisuke had ever seen. On the far side of the room there was another door, and what he could see through the half-open door were the familiar furnishings of a bathroom.

Daisuke didn't feel as if he were crawling with filth, but he did want a bath. He hurried over that way, eager to please his master and eager to get into the hot water as soon as he could. Kaiser followed at a slower pace while Daisuke explored the bathroom and started the bathwater.

Everything that he'd seen of the Kaiser's reeked of elegance and luxury when it wasn't in chill simplicity. While his memories of his life before the Kaiser remained sparse and neglected, Daisuke decided that if he'd ever seen a bathroom like this, he would've remembered it. Since he didn't, clearly he hadn't.

All four walls, ceiling, and floor consisted of blue and white tiles, deep shades of blue and blinding shades of white. The tub was sunk into the floor with enough room for four or five people to stretch out as far as they wished. Heated towels – he found out they were heated with a careful touch – hung over a rack of wrought iron.

Daisuke pulled his attention away from the room to look down at himself. He still wore the clothes he'd been captured in, and they didn't _look_ as if he'd worn them nonstop for however long it had been. He rubbed at the leg of his shorts curiously, then looked up as Kaiser entered the room.

He didn't ask the question on his mind, but Kaiser spoke regardless. "You've been with me for almost two months. I kept your clothes clean, as well as you."

Daisuke decided he didn't want to know how. It had worked; that was all he needed to know. He shuffled out of the outfit, found a convenient hamper to dump them into, and waited for Kaiser to be ready to bathe.

He tried not to think too much about the fact he was taking a bath with his master. The very idea made him tingle all over, as did anything that involved pleasing Kaiser in some fashion.

Soon enough the two of them lay in the hot water together, not quite close enough to touch, but Daisuke remained hyper-aware of the Kaiser at all times. He always did; he didn't think he could not now. He didn't just lay there, though. He found soap and a washcloth and got down to business getting himself as clean as he could.

"Daisuke."

Daisuke's head snapped around without hesitation. Kaiser held out a washcloth and the one in Daisuke's hand dropped at once as he reached for that one.

Kaiser didn't need to put some of his orders into words for Daisuke to understand what was wanted of him. He carefully washed his master all over, breathing in the faint mixed aromas of soap and the Kaiser himself. He couldn't put a name to it, only that it was his master and he enjoyed the scent so very much.

When they emerged from the bath, two sets of sleepwear had been readied for them, one in dark blue for the Kaiser and one in pale blue for Daisuke. He trailed along cheerfully behind Kaiser into the bedroom again and looked for wherever he would be sleeping.

"There." Kaiser pointed to the bed. "I want you there with me, Daisuke."

Daisuke's heart beat a bit faster at that. "Master..." He hadn't been punished for asking questions since he'd been taken out of the enfolding shadows, but he knew very well that Kaiser could put him back there any time that he wanted. He didn't Iwant/i to go back there, not at all, not for so much as a second.

Kaiser's hand rested now on the side of Daisuke's cheek. "You are what I want you to be. You are everything I want you to be and you will remain _where_ I want you to be. And until I say otherwise, you will remain by my side, day and night, awake and asleep. Do you understand this?"

Daisuke bowed his head without hesitation. His time in the darkness had taught him well: please the Kaiser at any costs. "Yes, master."

"Good. Now let's get some sleep."

Daisuke curled up next to his master, staying awake just long enough to be fully aware of how warm and good it was to be there. He wanted nothing else out of his life right now except for this glorious peace to last forever.

* * *

Keeping time inside of the Kaiser's fortress wasn't easy for anyone who wasn't him. When it came to Daisuke, that was by the Kaiser's choice, since depriving his prisoner of any way to know how much time had passed had been part of the process of training him. Though these days, Daisuke wasn't so much a prisoner as he was an extension of Kaiser himself, loyal and committed.

There wasn't much Daisuke could do that any of Kaiser's enslaved Digimon couldn't do, but he kept Kaiser company, and Kaiser enjoyed knowing that he'd dealt such a powerful blow to the Chosen. They hadn't freed nearly as many of his slaves or taken down nearly as many of his Spires as they had before he'd taken Daisuke to himself. Sooner or later they would admit defeat.

What they needed was a final strike, something to crush their will once and for all, and Daisuke himself would be that final strike. Kaiser spent a week planning everything. The Chosen would regret the day they'd ever attempted to stand up against him.

* * *

Daisuke wrapped his arms around himself and looked from one side to the other. Tall trees encircled clearing the two of them stood in. There wasn't any sign of either human or non-enslaved Digimon around for as far as the eye could see. Daisuke looked back at Kaiser, wondering what they were doing here. Kaiser hadn't said a word about it, only that he wanted Daisuke to accompany him down here.

Now Kaiser rested his hand on Daisuke's shoulder, reminding him of all the warmth and presence that he had to offer Daisuke.

"I have some matters to take care of. I want you to wait here for me. I'll be back soon."

Daisuke quickly nodded, a brilliant smile lighting up his face. "You can count on me, master." He would never, ever do something his master didn't want him to do. The thought refused to even cross his mind. Making Kaiser happy made _him_ happy.

Kaiser caressed Daisuke's cheek once more, then leaped up onto his travel AirDramon and flew out of sight. Daisuke watched him go, wondering just why he'd been brought down there if Kaiser wasn't going to stay with him.

 _Doesn't matter,_ he told himself. _He said to stay here, so I will._

He wandered around the clearing a little, figuring that was allowed as long as he didn't actually leave the area, and wondered just how long his master would be gone. It wasn't that bad out here. It had been a very long time since he'd been outside the fortress, and the kiss of the wind and the heat of the sun pleased him more than he could've imagined they would.

For lack of anything else to do, and having far too much pent-up energy to just stand there and do nothing, Daisuke started to kick at the dirt, until he'd scraped up enough to create a makeshift ball. It really wasn't much, but he circled around kicking it, reshaping it when it lost its shape, and having a relatively good time.

"Daisuke?"

He froze at the sound of his name being spoken by someone who _wasn't_ his master. He'd almost forgotten what that could sound like.

Then, he slowly turned to where he'd heard the voice and blinked, staring even harder. He swallowed.

For all that he hadn't seen them in months, his memories came crashing in hard. Miyako and Takeru. Hikari and Iori. Behind them, Taichi and Yamato.

He swallowed and stepped back. He'd been told to stay here and he wasn't going to disobey his master.

"Daisuke, he's nowhere around. Come on, let's get back to Earth. Your parents are really worried about you. So's Jun. We all have been!" Takeru started forward, holding out his hand.

Daisuke stepped back again and shook his head, turning so he didn't have to see them. Seeing them, thinking about them, brought back every memory of being in the place of darkness that he'd never wanted to think about again.

Pain. Shuddering pain just at the thought of their names alone. Pain that grew worse when he called out for them, until he stopped even trying, because he knew the agonizing bite of punishment far too well.

"Do you see any Rings or Spirals on him?" Taichi. He recognized their voices still. Whether he chose to listen or not, he would always know them, and now he tensed, waiting for the pain that would come from just being aware of them. "Daisuke!"

"There's nothing on him that shouldn't be. Except those clothes." Takeru half-growled those last words out and Daisuke could not help but wonder what was so wrong about his clothes. Sure, they weren't what he'd originally worn, but he wasn't the person he'd been before, either, so why not have something different?

Besides, Kaiser had provided them, and Daisuke would never turn down something his master gave him. These clothes felt as if Kaiser were always there with him, even when he wasn't.

And there wasn't anything wrong with the outfit, anyway. The fire-patterns on the shirt and pants weren't in his usual colors, but in shades similar to what Kaiser wore. Other than that, they weren't too different from his original clothes.

Hikari shifted forward herself, holding one hand out to him. "Daisuke, we've really missed you. V-mon's waiting for you too. Don't you want to come back and see him again?"

"No!" He scrambled back as far as he could, heart racing, remembering far too well the way his body seared in pain whenever he so much as thought Iher/I name. "Leave me alone!"

"Daisuke!" Miyako snapped, hands on her hips. "What did he do to you?"

Daisuke just shook his head, refusing to look at them another moment. _Master, master, where are you?_ He wanted that comforting touch, that warm embrace that told him that here was someone who cared about him, who would always be there for him, who it felt good to think about.

A hand rested on his shoulder without warning and he looked up to see Kaiser looking back at him. All of the tension vanished at once as he leaned into his master's comforting touch.

"I see you received my message." Kaiser addressed the Chosen, keeping Daisuke close to him. "Do you see now? He wants nothing at all to do with you." He brushed his fingers over Daisuke's cheek and Daisuke leaned into it, breathing easing.

"What did you do to him?" Iori demanded, a mix of rage and grief in his voice.

"Only a little convincing. There's nothing any of you can do to change him back to what he was. The key is to make him _want_ to believe what you're telling him, and he only believes _me_ now." Kaiser tilted Daisuke's head up so they looked at one another. "Isn't that true, Daisuke?"

"Yes, master." Daisuke didn't hesitate. The idea of leaving his dear master, who'd been the one to put him in the darkness, but always, always took him out again, always made sure he ate and drank and slept and there was someone there for him, wasn't one Daisuke would entertain at all.

He began to pull Daisuke closer to him, taking a step toward the AirDramon that Daisuke could now see hovering over them. Before he could get them there, something small and blue shot toward them and V-mon attached himself to Daisuke's leg.

"Daisuke! Don't go!" His grip showed the time he'd spent in the arena; it would be almost impossible to get rid of him without hurting him, and Daisuke couldn't bring himself to do that, no matter what.

"Let go of him," Kaiser commanded. "I spared you once. Don't think I'll do it again."

V-mon paid him no mind at all, still gripping onto Daisuke's leg. "He told me if I tried to find you, he'd hurt you even _worse_! I had to stay there. I didn't _want_ to!"

Daisuke, as changed as he was from what Kaiser did to him, knew when his partner was telling the truth or not. And he didn't doubt for a moment that Kaiser _would_ say something like that. He trembled; he didn't want V-mon to go away, in all honesty. He wanted them to be together, but he couldn't, he wouldn't leave his master.

Then slowly, carefully, he looked up at the Kaiser. His master's expression remained cool and remote, but the quirk of his eyebrows told Daisuke he wasn't going to be patient that much longer. He looked back at V-mon.

"Come with us," he said, holding out his hand. He ignored the gasps of shock from the Chosen. "I won't leave master. But you can come with us." He looked back toward Kaiser. "Can't he?"

Kaiser's eyes narrowed as his gaze shifted between Daisuke and V-mon. "He would have to be useful. I have no place for someone who does nothing at all."

"He can help take care of me," Daisuke replied right away. "And he's my partner. One of us should mean both of us." He tilted his head for a moment. "He could help Wormmon, too."

"V-mon, what are you doing?" Taichi shouted from where the other Chosen still stood in shock. Only the presence of the Kaiser's army, just visible through the trees, kept them from attacking, Daisuke felt.

V-mon looked back that way. Daisuke couldn't see his face, but he could hear his voice very clearly. "He's my partner, Taichi. I have to be with him."

Daisuke didn't let himself relax anymore until Kaiser jerked his head.

"If you want to be with him that badly, then come along. We'll lay out a few ground rules once we're back home."

V-mon clung as hard as he could to Daisuke's leg as Kaiser leaped onto the AirDramon, looking back down at the Chosen.

"I would think very hard about if you really want to keep fighting me. Is there any way that you think you can win now?"

He threw his head back and laughed, even as AirDramon carried them all out of sight.

* * *

"I don't know what he did to Daisuke, but I'm not going to believe a single word he said about it being irreversible." Taichi slammed one fist into the nearest tree. "I don't care if it takes us another two months or two weeks or two years or twenty years, but we're going to stop him and we're going to get Daisuke back."

Yamato rested one hand on Taichi's shoulder, offering silent support. This would require a lot of talking to Daisuke's parents, who'd been quickly growing tired of excuses and half-truths anyway. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to come clean to them anyway.

That was a decision they'd all have to make, since it would at least somewhat involve talking to their own parents, the ones who didn't already know what was going on.

But Taichi was right about what he said anyway: they were going to get Daisuke back to himself, and the Kaiser would just have to deal with it.

* * *

"I'll spare you a Ring for the moment," Kaiser told V-mon, staring down at him, Daisuke snuggled comfortably at his feet. "But if you make the slightest move to leave here or to do anything I forbid in relation to Daisuke, then I'll have one on you before you can breathe. Do you understand?"

V-mon nodded quickly. He didn't want one of those things on him, but if he got to be with Daisuke, then that was good enough. Maybe he could still find a way to help him, even with those rules in place.

He didn't like how the Kaiser kept touching Daisuke, one hand eternally on his cheek or in his hair or on his neck. It made it look as if he thought of Daisuke as some kind of possession, a treasure that only he could properly appreciate.

He liked it even less how Daisuke eagerly leaned into the touch as if he were a breath away from begging for more. This wasn't the Daisuke that he'd met the day the Digimental of Courage had been lifted. He still cared about him; this was Daisuke regardless. But Kaiser had _changed_ him and V-mon didn't like it.

He determined that he would find out what had happened and he would let the Chosen know _somehow_ , and they would find a way to change him back.

* * *

Kaiser didn't spend much time instructing V-mon; Daisuke would do most of it. He wanted to make certain that all of his slaves were ready for combat at a moment's notice. Despite what he'd told them, he didn't doubt that they would still try to fight him. They were too foolish to do otherwise.

But he had their leader and their strongest fighter, and he'd made certain Daisuke would never, ever want to leave him. So long as he retained that advantage, everything would go in his favor.

* * *

Daisuke rested, his head comfortably leaning against Kaiser's leg, with V-mon curled up close to him. His heart remained committed to Kaiser, but having V-mon there at least gave him one other person who would be there for him. Regardless of whether they'd been allowed to be or not, they hadn't been before. But now he had Kaiser and now he had V-mon, and that was more than enough for him.

 **The End**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


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